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alignment with the Principles and other internationalhuman rights standards. While the president’spolicy statement is an admirable show of commitmentto surveillance reform, only greater legalrestrictions and increased external oversight ofthese programmes can assure the protection offundamental freedoms, and reassure the publicthat the US conducts its surveillance activities in arights-respecting manner.Action stepsThe following advocacy steps are recommended inthe US:• Call or write to Congress urging them to supportrights-respecting surveillance reform.• Provide comments to the PCLOB showingsupport for efforts to ensure that rights areprotected during the development of laws toprotect the nation against terrorism.• Endorse the International Principles on the Applicationof Human Rights to CommunicationsSurveillance:https://en.necessaryandproportionate.org/take-action/access• Encourage companies to protect your personalinformation by supporting the Data Security ActionPlan: https://www.encryptallthethings.net• Take steps to protect your own information byusing secure communications platforms, likethose suggested by Reset the Net:https://pack.resetthenet.orgUruguayPenumbra: Surveillance, security and public information in UruguayDATAFabrizio Scrolliniwww.datauy.orgIntroductionIn July 2013 a local newspaper revealed that theUruguayan government had purchased secretsurveillance software called “El Guardián”. 1 ElGuardián (or The Guardian) is a radical shift towardsonline and phone surveillance, and the challengesit represents remain largely out of public debate.This report aims to analyse the most recent developmentsin terms of the use of technology forsurveillance in Uruguay. It will provide a descriptionof key events and regulations that have recentlyemerged in Uruguay, analysing challenges to privacy.Finally it will provide a set of issues to developan agenda for privacy according to the InternationalPrinciples on the Application of Human Rights toCommunications Surveillance. 2Government surveillance in the UruguayancontextUruguay is considered a stable and relatively transparentdemocracy by several indicators available,including that offered by Transparency International.3 Uruguayan democracy was regained frommilitary rule in 1985, but the country’s democratictradition goes as far back as the beginning of the20th century, when Uruguay was one of the fewdemocratic nations in Latin America. During the pastmilitary dictatorship (1973-1985) the Uruguayangovernment ran extensive surveillance programmesin order to monitor its citizens. According to theweekly publication Brecha, a former intelligenceofficer revealed that the dictatorship managed todevelop profiles of at least 300,000 Uruguayans. 4Access to these files is still contested in Uruguay,1 Terra, G. (2013). Gobierno compró “El Guardián” para espiarllamadas y correos. El País. www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/gobierno-compro-guardian-espiar-llamadas-correos.html2 https://en.necessaryandproportionate.org/text3 www.transparency.org/country#URY4 Sempol, D. (2008). Article in Brecha, 16 May, cited in Zabala, M.,& Alsina, A. (2008). Secretos Publicos. Montevideo: Fin de Siglo,p. 46.but increasingly they are becoming available topeople who were under state surveillance.Uruguay has recently being portrayed as a liberaland progressive country. In the last five yearsit has passed laws legalising same-sex marriage,abortion and the cultivation and sale of cannabis.Furthermore, Uruguay passed a law on free andopen source software which requires that the governmentuse free and open source software in allits activities. Regulations in line with this law arestill to be developed so that it can be implemented.Montevideo City Hall was one of the leading citygovernments in advancing open source and opendata policies in the country.Uruguay set up a monopoly in terms of internetprovision run by the state-owned telecommunicationscompany ANTEL. 5 ANTEL is implementing awide-ranging programme to provide internet accessthrough optic fibre to the whole country. PreviouslyANTEL had secured connectivity across the countryand established a scheme to provide basic accessto the internet for every citizen. Today, 58% of thepopulation has direct access to the internet, and18% of Uruguayans are frequent internet users. 6Furthermore, the establishment and developmentof the Ceibal programme has allowed every child inUruguay access to devices (i.e. netbooks) to connectto the internet in their schools, homes andalso public squares. Ceibal is fostering a new kindof education which relies heavily on the internet. Inthe next 10 years a new generation of digital nativeswith full access to computers and the internet willemerge in Uruguay.The country has a strong judiciary system with along tradition of upholding the rule of law. Uruguayalso has a relatively strong privacy law, althoughthere is no systematic evaluation of its implementation.Nevertheless, technological change hasoutpaced the capacity of government watchdoginstitutions to keep an eye on several developmentsemerging, mostly in the areas of security anddefence. Most of these developments are justified5 Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones: www.antel.com.uy6 El Observador. (2013, April 3). Uruguay a la cabeza deLatinoamérica en penetración de internet El Observador. www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/247366/uruguay-a-la-cabeza-delatinoamerica-en-penetracion-de-internet266 / Global Information Society Watch uruguay / 267